Energy Management Success Starts with the Right Team

Regardless of whether you're applying Total Quality Management, Six-Sigma or another methodology, initiation is the most important step in the improvement process. To initiate an energy management plan, follow these four steps:

Identify and quantify the benefit potential.

Develop steps to realize the benefit potential.

Implement steps to reduce energy losses and increase efficiency.

Monitor the process and take necessary actions to sustain positive results.

Once top management is sold on the benefit potential, it's important to properly initiate the energy management plan instead of just “thrusting it upon” lower management levels. The next step is to form a team to implement the plan. This team should have representation from each department that uses a significant share of the plant's energy.

Forming the right team is critical to energy management success. Because people frequently are both the strongest and weakest links in the energy cost-reduction chain, they very often can make or break positive results. Many times it's simply not the team, but the way the team's motivation is developed towards the common goal. Energy management plans that best use the human element often report more positive results and longer sustainability. Hence, the human factor in the team's formation and function can impact significantly the results.

For more about how to build and use an energy management team, read the full article on ChemicalProcessing.com.

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Author Bio

Veerasamy Venkatesan, general manager, VGA Engineering Consultants, Inc., is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM), and a U.S. Dept. of Energy approved specialist in assessing both steam and process-heating systems. He has more than 28 years of field experience related to plant operations and process engineering at chemical, petrochemical, refining and other facilities.

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